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When you finally gather the cash to get a new board and the day you have been thinking about for day, weeks, months maybe years finally comes. You head down to your favorite shaper (you know the one you go and talk with about his boards like every week) to place the big order.

You give all the details down to logo placement, rail thickness, not too much rocker but some in the nose/tail, make sure the resin tint is aqua blue not light blue. Usually you get that smile of “you know we do our best to produce great boards”. But making a board is almost like growing a tree you know what your going to get when you put the seeds in the ground but sometimes its not exactly like you pictured it and it takes time.

From the time you lay your money down a lot of production has to happen.

Order the blank. Hopefully this gets done the same week you order. Sometimes shapers have to wait for a batch of orders before they submit to the blank manufacture. Usually it takes a 2-3 of weeks for custom blanks to get processed. (If its taking longer your shaper didn’t order it or the blank company is very backed up. I tend to believe the blank companies are on a more regimented / professional schedule)

Shaping the board – as you can see in the video this is where the magic happens. If your shaper get the blank cut by a CNC machine it reduces the hand shaping time. Usually 2 weeks

Laminate -> Glass-On Fin -> Hotcoat -> Sand -> Gloss & Polish. This is usually done at the glass shop and boards get worked through in a first come basis (unless a team rider needs it NOW!) This process usually takes another 2 weeks from the time it arrives to the glass house to finish.

So even though 4-6 weeks which is usually the answer you get sounds like a short amount of time; everyday that the waves come in seems longer then ever when waiting for that new sled to arrive.

Finally you get the call “Your board is here”. This basically is like your wife saying the baby is coming – at least for me – I find any reason to leave work, church, party, family functions, what ever to get to the to the shop to pick up that new board.

The boys over at Almond have put together a great video on the whole process. They are making some damn nice boards over there. You should go check them out

Alex Knost has started shaping his own boards and not only riding them but won The Vans Cold Water Classic on one.

So the question everyone is asking is: are these good for everyone or just for Al? Lets face it Alex can ride a barn door and make it look easy and styley. So has anyone had a chance to get on one of Al’s boards? Let us know.